One fish vanished into Yueyu’s mouth in a few quick bites, like sparks swallowed by night. When she finished, her gaze clung to her sister’s grilled fish, like a small cat under the eaves. Dawn Sugar Snow sighed, a breeze over coals, and passed her freshly grilled fish to her little sister.

“Let’s grill a few more. Yueyu really loves them,” Qianya said, smile warm as lantern light, as she pulled more fish from her pack like river-silver. She’d been wise enough to prepare extra.

“Grilled fish is easy if you marinate ahead,” she went on, voice steady as a metronome of rain. “Heat and timing can be logged and tweaked like a recipe. Well? Doesn’t your own fish taste better?”

“Mmm, mm! My sister’s tastes better!” Yueyu mumbled, scarfing it down like a bird pecking grain.

“Ah-haha…”

Placebo, huh? Qianya glanced at Yueyu and felt her eat with more joy than before, like sunlight breaking through mist.

The moment Qianya brought out more fish, Yueyu had already picked her sister’s clean, bones gleaming like pale reeds. Seeing that hungry yet shy look, Qianya chuckled, helpless as soft rain, and pushed her own grilled fish over.

“This one’s yours too. I’m not hungry yet. Take it, Yueyu.”

“Th-thanks…?” Yueyu took the fish, startled as a fawn in brush, swallowed, and ducked behind her sister like a shadow slipping behind a tree.

“…?”

Qianya wanted to laugh at Yueyu’s move, but she held it in like a held breath. When she glanced at Dawn Sugar Snow, she caught a smile curling like smoke.

“What about mine—”

“She’s had three already,” Dawn Sugar Snow said with a light laugh, voice clear as streamwater. “Yueyu’s filled her belly a bit. She’s not as ravenous. Xuewei, you can keep yours.”

“Mhm, mhm…” Yueyu, lips glossy with oil like lake sheen, nodded along.

“All right…” Xuewei tore off a piece and slipped it onto her tongue, savoring like a sip of warm tea, her eyes narrowing in quiet pleasure.

It tastes a lot like the fish my brother grilled in my memory, like embers echoing old warmth. No wonder it felt familiar. He once said he improved under his master’s guidance, like a blade honed on stone. Did Qianya know my brother back then?

She didn’t want the answer, like a letter sealed by frost. Anyway… her brother now must know Qianya, right?

Soon the second round finished, the skins crackling like autumn leaves. This time Yueyu behaved, eating only her own. She finished fast, then gazed at the others with starved moon-eyes, but even when her sister offered, Yueyu didn’t bite.

“I already ate. If you want more, grill your own in a bit.”

“Eh?”

Qianya blinked, surprised like a sparrow startled from a branch. She hadn’t expected Yueyu to be this considerate.

She’d prepped over a hundred marinated fish, like a little hoard of river silver. By night’s end, they were gone, the trash bin bristling with near a hundred skewers like a thorny bush. Qianya could only smile and sigh, while Yueyu still looked unsatisfied, like a tide that wouldn’t stop.

“If we keep eating, won’t dawn catch us?”

“Hm? It’s not even eleven yet, Qianya,” Dawn Sugar Snow said, voice light as dew.

“What??” Qianya stared at her, then pulled out the watch she’d bought from the convenience shop, its hands thin as blades. It wasn’t even eleven.

“Ah-haha… Guess I’m stuffed and dizzy.” She rubbed her brow, laughing at herself like wind ruffling a flag.

“We did eat a lot,” Dawn Sugar Snow said, a little worried, like a cloud shading sunlight. “Even I had over a dozen. I’ll need a morning run tomorrow.”

Morning run…

Just getting up at dawn costs every ounce of strength, and you still want to run!? Xuewei flinched at Dawn Sugar Snow’s calm tone, like a rabbit hearing a hawk.

“If everyone’s full, let’s head back,” Qianya said, voice soft as night rain. “Looks like Yueyu’s getting sleepy.”

“Pfft~ Qianya, you really can’t go three sentences without Yueyu,” Dawn Sugar Snow teased, eyes smiling like crescents. “Care that much for my sister? Do you… like her?”

“Yeah. The kind you feel for a friend,” Qianya said, smile easing into calm, like ripples settling. “Yueyu’s the kind of friend worth investing in. If you treat her well, you’ll likely be repaid, like seeds sprouting in spring. I’ve met many people. You give them your heart, and what you get back might be a knife in the ribs, like cold wind at night.”

“…,” Yueyu said nothing, head down, eating her fish in small bites, like rain tapping leaves.

“And Yueyu is adorable,” Qianya added, voice bright as a paper lantern. “I love making friends with cute girls.”

“That’s the real point, isn’t it?” Dawn Sugar Snow joked, laughter light as chimes.

“Of course! Who doesn’t like girls who are cute and kind? Just talking to them lifts the mood, like sunlight after rain. And I’ve got a good eye, hehe. If Yueyu wants to be friends with me, she won’t treat me worse than I treat her.”

“If that’s truly how you feel, Yueyu will give you exactly what you wish,” Dawn Sugar Snow murmured, like a leaf falling where it must. Only Qianya and she heard it.

“…?” Qianya stiffened for a beat, like a string plucked sharp. She looked up at Dawn Sugar Snow, then understood something and reined in her expression, like shutters closing on a warm room.

“It’s getting late,” she said. “Let’s pack up and head back. Sleep past midnight, and your morning’s a fog.”

“Mhm. I’ll help!” Yueyu suddenly spoke, voice like a bell in dusk.

“Eh? Okay…” Qianya nodded and moved with them, hands quick as swallows. In moments, the grill was away, and the open ground held no trace but a lingering scent, like smoke braided into air.

“Let’s go. Time to sleep.”

“Whew, I’m sleepy…” Xuewei yawned, fullness tugging her eyelids down like tides pulling sand.

“Sleep back at the dorm,” Qianya whispered, patting Yueyu’s shoulder like a feather touch.

Dawn Sugar Snow watched the two underclassmen with interest, smile blooming like tea. Who knew what she was thinking behind that spring-mirror face.

You really are a woman heavy with sin, Qianya. Friends, is it? Maybe you mean it. But will others see it that way, like mist read as smoke?

…

Back at the dorm, Xuewei rinsed off and fell asleep at once, like a stone sliding into a quiet pond. She thought nothing more.

Qianya lay down and shut her eyes, but sleep wouldn’t come, like a door stuck in winter. Her mind kept replaying Dawn Sugar Snow’s words, echoes circling like swallows in twilight.

If I really think that? What does that mean… I do think that. How else would I think?? Did Dawn Sugar Snow see something, like light through paper? Is she outside this dream, an independent self? Is she Tangxue herself, or the true Rain Moon Willow?

If she’s Tangxue herself—no. She’s not that sharp. That idiot only charges forward, like thunder without plan.

The true Rain Moon Willow? That doesn’t fit either. I can’t find a trace of Tangxue in her, like a river with no salt. Tangxue’s nature should be like Rain Moon Willow’s. Instead, everyday Yueyu feels exactly like Tangxue, like mirrored ripples.

Wait! Maybe I’m overthinking, like counting grains of sand. Everyone here is playing themselves, but their temperaments are shaped by Yueyu’s impression, like clay pressed by her hands.

Dawn Sugar Snow… what kind of person are you? Why warn me with that line, like a bell at dusk? Do you love your own sister? Or do you want to fulfill her, like stepping aside to let the moonlight through?